Electric hair clipper



July 28, 19256 1,547,422

' .M. H. KOTZEBUE ELECTRIC HAIR CLIPPER Filed Ilay 1B, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Mffmzie 146 July 28, 1925.

M. H. KOTZEBUE ELECTRIC HAIR CLIPPER Filed May 18, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 MIX/I5 125%442 Patented July 28, 1925.

MEINHARD H. KOTZEBUE, F TULSA, OKLAHOMA.

ELECTRIC HAIR CLIPPER.

Application filed May 18,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MEINHARD I-I. Korzn- BUE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Tulsa, in the county of Tulsa and State of Oklahoma, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in 'an Electric Hair Clipper; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to an electric hair clipper.

It is generally aimed to provide a clipper wherein the parts are compactly arranged and housed in a single casing to conveniently serve as a handle during operation; to provide means to effectively control or regulate the strokes of the plunger or armature and hence of the cutting elements; to provide a construction embodying principles of an iron-clad electro-magnet, and otherwise to improve the structure so as to increase its efficiency and durability notwithstanding I the comparatively rough usages to which devices of this character are subjected.

1th the foregoing and additional objects such as will appear hereinafter, the invention is provided in one practical form as illustrated in accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the clipper, partly broken away;

Figure 2 is a plan view thereof with the upper casing section omitted;

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken through the entire device and longitudinally on line 33 of Figure 2;

Figures& and 5, respectively, are transverse sectional views on the planes of lines t1 and 55 of Figure 2.

Figure 6 is a detail perspective view of the mounting plate.

Figure 7 is a. fragmentary longitudinal sectional view at right angles to the plane of Figure 3, and

Figure 8 is a view showing the electrical parts in diagram;

Like reference characters designate like or similar parts in the dilferent views.

, A casing is employed which is split longitudinally into sections 10 and 11 to serve 1922. Serial No. 561,891.

as a housing for the operative parts of the mechanism. To this end the casing may in clude a tubular handle portion 12 in which is seated or disposed an iron-clad electro magnet 13, and an enlarged head 14, which provides a shoulder or abutment for the hand at 15 on the casing. One section carries the stationary comb or cutter 16 upon which is slidably mounted the movable comb or cutter 17. Said slidable cutter is directly actuable by a bell crank lever or rocker 18, pivoted to section 11 by a pin at 19, and yieldingly held in one position by a return spring 20 consisting of a plurality of laminated leaves secured at 21 to section 10. Gutter 17 is slotted at 22 and one arm of lever 18 extends loosely thereinto. A holder 23 directly carries spring 20 and the tension of the latter may be varied through the adjustment of a screw 24 against the same.

In order to elliciently mount the operating parts within the head let, a base or mounting plate is employed, as at 25, being sub- 7 stantially V-shaped in cross section to conform tothe shape of the bottom wall of section 10 and being secured to that wall by screws or other fastenings at 26. This plate has integral therewith, a suitably shaped lug 27 to which the bell crank lever or rock er 18 is directly pivoted. It also has an integral stud 28 engaged by the pin 19 to pivotally mount the rocker 18. Furthermore a lug integral with said plate as at 29, mounts the adjusting .screw 24:. In addition this base plate or bracket has an arm at 30.

A reciprocable arm or plunger is provided for the electro-ma-gnet as at 31 and it is preferably made of soft iron to hold mag netism and is furthermore provided with openings 32 therein designed to break down eddy currents in order to minimize heating. Such electro-magnet also has a stationary core member 33 which is screw threaded therein so that it may be adjusted to vary the air gap between the armature 31 and core 33. The outer end of the core member 33 is accessible for adjustment by means of a wrench or the like and it has sockets at 3 1 for engagement thereby. The adjacent ends of the core members 33 and 31 are conical to form male and female elements 35 and 36 as a menus to increase the effective distance and the effective surface and accordingly the efficiency of the armature.

A contact plate 37 is carried by the armature 31. Insulation 38 being suitably provided on the armature as shown. Plate 37 is slidably guided on pins 39 projecting from a conductor ring 40 secured to thebody of the magnet. As shown ring 40 is in conducting relation with one pole piece of the magnet and a conductor 41 extends from said ring to the plate 37. Said plate 37 is arranged to slidably engage a l-shaped contact tongue 43 which carries a plurality of contact points 44 for engagement by contact points 45 on the plate 37. Contact 43 is resiliently reinforced by a- V-shaped leaf or plate 46 and such parts are suitably se cured to the arm 30, as shown, but in insulated relation thereto as at 47. A conductor 48 leads from the other pole piece of the electro-magnet and contacts with the tongue 43. This construction serves to balance the electro-magnetic forces and avoids lateral impulses of the core which would increase the frictional resistance. Such contacts afford a resistance to the movement of the armature which is in the direct line of movement thereof in order to minimize lateral wear of the parts, particularly the armature. Leads 50 and 51, in communication with any suitable source of electricity, supply the operating current for energizing the magnet.

A suitable operative connection is provided between the armature 31 and the bell crank lever 18 which may consist essentially of a flexible multi-stranded wire or the like 53, fastened to the plunger at 54 and its free to receive the wire 53, with its head in the rear of the cooperating arm of the lever and with the said slot closed by the spring 20, so that said head cannot become displaced.

It will be realized that in operation when the contactplate 37 is in conducting relation with the tongue 43, at the points 44 and 45, an electric circuit is closed through the magnet which causes the armature 31 to be drawn into the magnet and the flexible wire to rock the bell crank lever 18 so as to move the slidable cutter to the right and against the tension of the spring 20. As the plunger moves inwardly, the contacts 44 and 45 are disengaged, thus breaking the magnetic circuit through the magnet whereupon the spring 20 through its tension moves the slidable cutter or blade to the left causing the armature to again move outwardly in order to close the contacts 44 and 45 and re-establish the electric circuit. Thus the successive making and breaking of the electric circuit in combination with the spring 20 causes reciprocation of the movable cutter or blade relative to the fixed cutter or blade. In actual use, I find the best results are attained when the armature 31 is made of soft iron and core member 33 is made of high carbon steel. Particular attention is called to the double arrangement of the contacts at 44 and 45. This construction enables the electric and electro-magnetic forces to be balanced and in the event of fouling one set of the contacts, the other set will cause effective operation of the clipper. In addition, particular attention is called to the feature of reduction of heat due to avoiding of eddy currents, adjacent the armature to the adjustable core 33 and to the conical contacting surfaces of the latter elements and the armature. V As merely one practical embodimenthas been illustrated and described, it is to be understood that changes in the details may be resorted to provided they fall within the spirit and scope of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is 1. A device of the class described having a casing, an electro-magnet therein having a movable plunger, an element to be actuated, an operative connection between said element and plunger, amounting plate within the casing, said plate having a raised lug, a rocker pivoted to said lug and operatively connected to the element, said mounting plate having a second raised lug, a spring within the casing connected, to said lug to urge movement of the element in one direction, an operative connection between said plunger and said rocker, an arm rising from said mounting plate, a tongue attached to said arm, a ring and a contact plate in circuit with said electro-magnet, said contact plate being slidable relatively tosaid ring and said tongue also being'in an electric circuitwith said magnet and adapted to engage and disengage the contact plate.

2. A device of the class described having an element to be actuated, an electro-magnet,

contact plates slidable one upon the other, a tongue to engage and disengage one of said plates, and conductor means operatively con necting said magnet, plates and tongue in an electric circuit to actuate said element.

3. A device of the class described having an element to be actuated, an electro-magnet, a ring and a contact plate, a pin extending from said ring and on which said contact plate is slidable, a tongue to engage and disengage said contact plate, and conductor means operatively connecting said ring, contact plate and tongue in an electric circuit to actuate said element. 7 v

4. A device of the class described in combination with an element to be actuated, an iron-clad electro-magnet having a stationary core member whereby-the line of magnetic influence will be longitudinally of the magnet, an armature plunger for said magnet, an operative connection between said plunger and said element, and means to permit adjustment of said stationary core member relatively to said armature to vary the air gap therebetween.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature 1n presence of two Witnesses.

MEINHARD H. KOTZEBUE.

Witnesses ANN MAYER, LOIS GREENE. 

